Bottle-receiving machine.



I. C. DICKINSON 81 S. PRITCHETT.

BOTTLE RECEIVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8. 1915.

laIemedSept. 5, 1916. I 2 SHEETSSHEET I Old vwantom w w m w J. C. DICKINSON & S. PRITCHETT. BOTTLE RECEIVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8. 1915.

SHEET 2.

Patented Sept. 2 s H Earswvi/Mtmoco JOE DICKINSON AND SHERMAN PRITCHETT, 0F COTTONDALE, ALABAMA; SAID PRITCHETT ASSIGNO R TO J. D. WRIGHT, 0F BOLIGEE, ALABAMA.

BOTTLE-RECEIVING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1918.

Application filed October 8, 1915. Serial No. 54,916.

To all whom it'mag concern Be it lmown that we, Jon C. DICKINSON and SHERMAN Pmrrorrn'r'r, citizens of the United States, residing at Cottondale, in the county of Tuscaloosa and State of- Alabama, have invented new and useful Improvements in- Bottle-Receiving Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for receiving empty bottles and for delivering or distributing in exchange therefor checks which are subsequently redeemable for merchandise.

The invention has for its object to produce a device of simple and improved construction embodying a receiving member supported for rotation and having a groove in which the empty bottle may be placed through a suitable feed chute, means for partly rotating the receiving member for the purpose of discharging the empty bottle into a pan or receptacle, and a check delivering mechanism which is operable by the empty bottle as the receiving member is being turned about its axis for the purpose of transferring the empty bottle to the pan or receptacle; said check distributing mechanism remaining inactive if the receiving member is rotated without the bot-. tle having been placed therein so that no check will be delivered except in exchange for an empty bottle.

With these and other ends in view which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood the same con I sists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of the invention, it being, however, understood that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise structural details therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and modifications within the scope of the claims maybe resorted to when desired.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 1s a detail view of the receiving member detached. Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view taken on the line 55 in Fig. 2.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference. The casing 15 of the improved machine is provided with bearings in the side walls thereof for a shaft 16 carrying a receiving member 17 of approximately cylindrical shape, said receiving member or cylinder having a longitudinal groove 18 of proper dimensions to receive a bottleof predetermined size and shape, said groove 18 being intersected by a transverse eccentric groove 19, the latter being formed intermediate the ends of the cylindrical member. The shaft 16 has a crank 20 disposed exteriorly of the casing, whereby said shaft may be rotated 1n one direction against the tension of a spring 21 which, when the crank is released, will automatically restore the shaft to its initial or starting position, stop means 22 being provided to limit the rotary movement of the shaft. Normally under the influence of the spring 21,'the shaft is maintained in such a position that the groove 18 in the receiving cylinder 17 will be presented in an upward direction, as seen in Fig. 1. When in this position the groove is in substantially longitudinal alinement or registry with a chute 23 connected with theside wall of the casing and through which an empty bottle may be inserted into the groove 18, the chute 23 being slightly inclined so that the bottle, when inserted, will gravitationally slide into the groove 18. \Vhen, by means of the crank 20, the shaft carrying the receiving cylinder is rotated, the groove 18 will be presented downwardly, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus causing the bottle to be gravitationally discharged into a pan or receptacle 24 located within the housing or casing and accessible through a door 25.

The receptacle 24 must obviously be of large capacity as compared with the dimensions of the casing because the device of the present invention, while partaking somewhat of the nature of coin-operated vending machines, serves for the collection of relatively large and bulky articles, namely, bottles for the reception of a considerable number of which accommodation must be ent invention and a coin-operated vending machine resides in the fact that While in the vending machine only a comparatively small receptacle is required for the coins inserted into the machine, in the present device the conditions are reversed, and a compartment of relatively very large dimensions must be provided for the reception of the articles inserted into the machine.

Mounted in the casing 15 adjacent to the receiving cylinder 17 and in an elevated position with respect to said cylinder is a cylindrical receptacle 26 in which a stack of checks 27 -may be placed, said checks being supported on a shelf 28 which is spaced from the lower end of the cylinder 26 and the shelf 28 communicating with a discharge chute 29. A spring 30 which is supported adjacent to the cylindrical receiving member 17 and in the path of a bottle placed in the groove 18 has at its lower end an arm 31 located between the shelf 28 and the lower end of the cylinder 26 and adapted, when the spring is actuated, to push the lowermost check of the stack into the chute 29 from which it will be gravitationally discharged. The lower end portion of the spring 30 may project within the transverse groove 19 of the receiving cylin der 17, said groove being expressly formed for the purpose of preventing the spring from being accidentally actuated if the machine should be surreptitiously operated.

It will be readily seen that when a bottle is introduced into the machine and the crank or handle 20 is operated, the cylinder 17 will be partly rotated, causing the bottle to engage the spring 30, the arm 31 of which will discharge a check while the bottle, as soon as it passes the spring will be gravitationally discharged into the pan or receptacle 24: from which it may be subsequently collected.

Having thus described the inventiomwhat is claimed as new, is

, to actuate the receiving member in one direction, means for actuating the receiving member against the tension of the spring, stop means to limit the rotation of the receiving member, a receptacle supported below the receiving member, said receptacle having an inclined bottom to permit objects first delivered to roll out of the path of succeeding objects, and a check delivering device including a spring supported in the path of a body occupying the pocket in the receiving member.

2. A bottle cgllecting machine comprising a casing having a receiving chute, a rotary receii'ing member having a groove endwise and longitudinally alining with the receiving chute, a spring to actuate the receiving member in one direction, means for actuating the receiving member against the tension of the spring, stop means to limit the rotation of the receiving member, a receptacle supported below the receiving member, and a check delivering device including a spring supported in the path of a body occupying the pocket in the receiving member, said receiving member being provided with a transversely disposed eccentric groove to clear the spring.

111 testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JQE C. DICKINSON. SHERMAN PRITCHETT. Witnesses B. 1 HiN'roN, CLARENCE HINTON. 

